Armenia’s voting against the UN resolution on the illegitimacy of the Crimean referendum has nothing to do with the strategic union between official Yerevan and Moscow.

Andranik Manukyan, Armenia’s Ambassador to Ukraine, noted the above-said.

“We do not hide the fact that Russia is our strategic partner, and we are preparing to become a member in the [Russia-led] Customs Union. But this vote is a result of our position on the self-determination of nations,” Manukyan told Segodnya.ua news agency of Ukraine, in response to the query on whether Kremlin has put pressure on Armenia.     

In the ambassador’s words, “People who are not familiar with the history of the Karabakh conflict cannot make an accurate assessment on the voting at the UN.” 

“Sadly, some Ukrainian media launched an anti-Armenian campaign. [But] our President Serzh Sargsyan stated that Ukrainians are our brothers. We stand with Ukraine.

“The 40th day of the killing of our Serhiy Nigoyan, who became the first victim at Maidan, was marked recently. Two of the 102 people, who had died for a better future for Ukraine, were the children of the Armenian nation,” Armenia’s ambassador specifically stated. 

He also expressed the hope that the friendly relations between the two countries will continue.

“According to the results of the end of October 2013, the trade between our countries constituted $200 million; eighty percent are your exports. We hope that the trade will grow,” Andranik Manukyan also said.